he says rice denied al qaeda's lead role in the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi that cost the lives of the ambassador and three others and she did so knowing it was true. well, the man who defeated mccain in the 2008 presidential campaign takes this as a personal shot at him. how will he respond? will he name ambassador rice his new secretary of state to replace hillary clinton? will he meet mccain's challenge head on and send rice up to the capitol to go face-to-face with the enly? tonight we study the battlefield and the fire power. mccain sure wants this fight, but do his fellow republicans? do they want an older white guy taking on the xre tense of a young woman of color, a rhodes scholar of solid reputation? most important what end does the president want for this match of fact and wits? i'm joined by michael o'hanlon of the brookings institution and jonathan lindie. michael, thank you for this. i want to get to the facts. am i right, is the main charge here coming from mccain and the others that ambassador rice knowingly covered up a n